


Voiceless

by TheNightFury



Series: Voiceless [1]
Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: AU, Gen, Mute Kallus, Mute Kallus AU, implied gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 04:45:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9476321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNightFury/pseuds/TheNightFury
Summary: It was only a matter of time before Thrawn discovered that he was Fulcrum, but he could never expect what his punishment for his treason would be.





	

Kallus couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong. Grand Admiral Thrawn summoned both Kallus and Lyste for a meeting, saying it was urgent. Had something happened? Had the Rebels attacked an Imperial station? He hoped not, that would have been incredibly stupid of them. A dark part of his mind wondered if Thrawn had discovered he was Fulcrum but pushed the thought out of his mind, if Thrawn knew he was Fulcrum he would have arrest him….right? Kallus calmly walked into Thrawns office, surprised to find he was not studying art as he usually did. 

“Agent Kallus,” Thrawn calmly greeted. “I’d imagine you’re wondering why I summoned you here today.”

“Yes,” Kallus admitted. “Do you have information on Rebel activity?”

“No, I have found something even better,” Thrawn said. 

“Something better than the rebels?” Lyste asked. 

“Yes, I have discovered the identity of the Agent known as Fulcrum,” Thrawn calmly said, startling both Lyste and Kallus. “But you already knew who he was Agent Kallus, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re-“

“You are a traitor to the Empire Fulcrum.” On instinct, Kallus turned to run out of the room, but found his way blocked by two Stormtroopers who grabbed him and shoved him down onto one of the chairs

“So…are you going to kill me?” Kallus spat. 

“Oh no,” Thrawn calmly said as a medical droid entered. “No, that would make you a martyr and we cannot have that. No, I have something much better planned for you. Something that will send a clear message to any who would think to speak out against the Empire.” Kallus’s eyes widened in horror as his head was roughly pulled back and the medical droid starting pulling out tools. 

“W-what are you d-doing?” Kallus gasped, heart hammering in his chest.

“Silencing you,” Thrawn said as Lyste watched in horror as the droid proceeded. “Permanently.”

\------

Lyste couldn’t tear his eyes off of Kallus’s unconscious form as he was dragged out of the room, having passed out part way through the….procedure. Lyste shuddered as he thought of Kallus’s screams of agony that where brutally cut off, leaving the former agent only able to whimper in pain, tears streaming down his face. 

“Is there a problem?” Thrawn cooly asked, startling him. 

“….was it necessary to not sedate him at all?” Lyste nervously asked. 

“Yes,” Thrawn said, “This was his punishment for his crimes against the Empire. He is a warning against those who would think to betray their Emperor.” 

“I see,” Lyste uncertainly said, doubts filtering through his mind. Treason was a serious crime, but this…this was inhuman…They had to be harsh on traitors though, right? 

“You are dismissed.” Thrawn said. 

“Yes sir,” Lyste said, fleeing Thrawns office, his mind swirling with dangerous thoughts. His mind still couldn’t fully process that Kallus was the traitor. Yes he did have access to highly classified information but he was loyal to the Empire above anything else. The more Lyste thought about it however, the more he realized as of late Kallus had been acting….differently. More willing to give up the chase, less likely to jump on anything that hinted at Rebel activity, more willing to speak up to injustices the Empire committed. 

So…maybe he was the traitor, and if he was a traitor he deserved this punishment…. Lystre tried to convince himself of this, but it didn’t sit well with him. No one deserved to go through such torture. And even if someone did…someone as loyal as Kallus defecting seemed wrong. They knew they did questionable things at times to keep peace, but the Rebels where terrorists, they had to do these things to keep peace. But if Kallus had defected despite that…he must have found something absolutely vile the Empire was doing….but what? What could be so terrible that would convince him to leave? He needed answers, now.

Determined, Lyste found a datapad and made his way to Kallus’s cell, the guards letting him in without any question thankfully. Thankfully, Kallus was awake, curling up in the corner of his cell, eyes glossy, body hunch, like he was trying to protect himself from further harm.

“Why did you do it?” Lyste asked, Kallus not even having the decency to look at him. “Answer me.” Kallus gingerly tubbed his bandage covered throat, a look of pain crossing his features. “With this.” He added, holding out the datapad for Kallus to take. “Go on, explain yourself!” Kallus however wouldn’t take it, continuing to state at the wall, rubbing his neck, his body trembling. 

“Maybe you did deserve this you traitor!” Lyste spat, freezing when Kallus weakly nodded his head, curling in on himself. Lyste had expected Kallus to try and defend himself or at least villainize the Empire for what they did to Kallus. But this…this was unexpected and a little unnerving. “So you agree you deserved this for betraying the Empire-“ Kallus shook his head, his gaze distant. “What do you mean no? You are a traitor to the Empire!” Kallus tiredly looked at him for a moment before looking away, expression defeated. “Fine, rot in here for all I care!” Lyste snapped, turning and leaving the cell without a second glance back. 

Kallus deserved this, he did this to himself, he probably just wanted power or something. Lyste told himself this over and over again like a mantra, but no matter how many times he told himself this, he couldn’t convince himself. 

\----

Of course Lyste wouldn’t understand, couldn’t understand. He didn’t know the horrors the Empire had committed, that he’d committed in the name of the Empire. He couldn’t see that Kallus deserved this not for treason, but for not committing treason sooner. He’d let so many innocents suffer and die in the name of justice, he deserved punishment for that. Of course, the rebels might not think that this was enough, they probably would make him pay with his life. A part of him hoped they would, he didn’t deserve to live, not after all he’d done.

Kallus shivered weakly, curing up in a tighter ball in an attempt to warm himself but to no avail. Why did they have to take the meteor? It was warm and it couldn’t do anything useful in this cell. He wished Thrawn had just killed him, but no that would have been too merciful of him. No, Thrawn wanted him to suffer a long and miserable life so he could slowly suffer for his crimes. All he could hope was that the Rebels wouldn’t attempt to break him out and leave him to rot. It was what he deserved.

\----

Something was wrong, it had been weeks since Kallus had sent them any messages and it was starting to worry Zeb. Even if he didn’t have any information, he would have usually at least sent them a quick message to assure them everything was alright. He’d never been silent for so long before…

“I don’t get why you’re so worried about him,” Ezra said as he watched Zeb pace. “He’s done a lot of terrible things to all of us, especially you.”

“He’s trying to be better now,” Zeb firmly said. “That’s what’s important, not what he’s done in the past.”

“Seems important to me…” Ezra grumbled. 

“Zeb’s right,” Kanan said. “Besides he does give valuable intel for us.”

“Well….yea I guess…” Ezra reluctantly agreed. 

“And he’s risked his life several times not to help us,” Zeb added. 

“Besides, I do recall you weren’t exactly a model citizen when you first joined the crew,” Hera added with a smirk. 

“But I was stealing from the Empire!” Ezra cried. 

“You stole from us,” Zeb corrected. 

“Okay but that’s not trying to kill you.”

“Yea but some of our own slaughtered his unarmed and injured men,” Zeb said. “He had his reasons to not trust as but now he realizes not all Rebels are like that.”

“What do you mean?” Hera asked. Zeb cringed, wishing he hadn’t said anything; this was not his story to tell. Thankfully, a messenger saved Zeb from having to respond.

“Captain, we received a transmission from an Imperial.” The messenger uncertainly said. “He insisted we let him speak with your crew.”

“Who?” Hera asked. 

“Lieutenant Lyste.”

“Why would he want to talk to us?” Ezra hissed. 

“Seems suspicious,” Kanan agreed. 

“Put him through, but make sure he can’t see us.” Hera ordered.

“Yes Captain,” He said, doing as she asked him. Soon Lyste’s holograph appeared and Hera asked,

“What do you want?”

“I’m only sending you this message as a courtesy,” Lyste said. “Kallus was revealed to be Fulcrum and has been captured.”

“What?” Zeb cried. “How could this happen?”

“Why are you telling us this?” Hera suspiciously asked. “How do we know this isn’t a trap?”

“I am no fan of your rebellion but….what Thrawn did to Kallus was….vile and wrong-“

“Done to Kallus?” Zeb asked, “What did he do to him?”

“I’m sorry I have to go, good luck,” Lyste said before ending the transmission. 

“I don’t know about you but this doesn’t sit right with me,” Hera said. 

“Me neither,” Ezra said. 

“I think he’s telling the truth,” Zeb said, “We haven’t heard from Kallus in way too long.” Chopper eagerly beeped and Hera said,

“Sounds like Chopper agrees with you.”

“His vote doesn’t count!” Ezra cried. 

“Why not?” Hera asked. “He is a member of the crew.”

“What do you two think?” Zeb asked. 

“…I don’t trust Kallus but….I do trust your opinion so I think we should go.”

“I agree,” Kanan said. “If we leave Kallus after all he’s done to help us, we’re no better than the Empire.”

“I guess we’re going on a rescue mission,” Hera said, smiling at Zeb.

\----

Kallus had long since lost track of how long he’d been in his cell. His cell didn’t get any sunlight and food was sporadic at best. Not that Kallus really ate much when anything was brought. Swallowing anything was agonizing, his throat throbbed at even the thought of trying to swallow anything. He knew he needed to eat, but that didn’t make it any easier for him.

Maybe he could just stop eating and waste away to nothingness….Kallus almost immediately shoved the thought out of his mind, the Empire would just find a way to force feed him the nutrients he needed to survive. He had to live as an example after all. An example of what though? Absolute hatred by every living creature in the universe? The Empire saw him as a traitor, and the Rebels saw him as nothing but Imperial trash. Even if they didn’t, it there was no way they could rescue him…

Kallus tiredly looked up at the door at the sound of muffled shouting, what was going on? He heard the familiar sound of blaster fire with even more shouting. Where the rebels here? Why would they come here? Surely not for him….distantly he heard the familiar sound of a bo-rifle firing and realized Zeb was here. If Zeb was here…that meant the Rebels had come, for him of all people. A small grin rose on his face at the thought, someone cared enough to rescue him, the smile quickly fell off of his face though when he realized they probably only came to get intel that he did not have and could no longer give even if he had any. He was completely useless to everyone now. What would they do to him when they realized what the Empire did to him? 

The door to his cell opened, Kallus tensed half expecting it to be Stormtroopers, relaxing when it was in fact Zeb standing there.

“He’s in here guys!” Zeb called out, relief spreading across his features. “Are you alright.”

Kallus nodded his head, a small smile on his face despite everything. It was odd, knowing that there was actually someone in the Galaxy who cared about his wellbeing and was actually happy to see he was alive. He wasn’t sure he could exactly call themselves friends, but maybe someday he could. If they both survived. His smile quickly fell when he realized Zeb probably didn’t actually care about him, just the information he thought Kallus had. 

“Kal, is everything okay?” Zeb asked.

“Now is not the time for small talk Zeb!” The young Jedi, Ezra, exclaimed. “We need to move!”

“Can you walk?” Zeb asked. Kallus nodded, shakily getting to his feet making Zeb frown. Wordlessly, he reached out to help Kallus out of the cell.

“What? No thank you?” Ezra grumbled, rolling his eyes. Kallus instinctively rubbed his throat over the bandages, wincing. How was he going to let them know he couldn’t talk anymore? Zeb stared at Kallus’s face, his eyes trailing down to the bandage wrapped around his throat, eyes widening in horror. 

“I…I don’t think he can….” Zeb breathed. 

“What does that mean?” Ezra snapped. 

“We can talk about this later!” Kanan exclaimed, “We have company!” Kanan’s words spurred the group into action, Zeb carefully leading Kallus down the halls towards where Kallus assumed they were keeping their ship with Kanan and Ezra at the rear, thankfully meeting very little resistance as they raced back to the ship. 

“Sabine’s diversion must be working,” Ezra commented. 

“Maybe a little too well,” Kanan nervously said. 

“She’ll be fine,” Ezra assured as the ship came into view, the Mandalorian girl Sabine running towards them. 

“Let’s move it!” Sabine cried, the group running onto the ramp. 

“Spector two this is Spector one, we’re all aboard!” Kanan said into his comm link. 

“Come on, let’s get you to the medbay,” Zeb softly said, Kallus tiredly nodding in agreement as the Ghost flew to safety. He was safe.

\-----

“Zeb was right,” Hera sighed as she stepped out of the medbay, “Kallus can’t speak.”

“How? What happened?” Ezra asked.

“According to the meddroid, his vocal cords where removed,” Hera said, jaw clenched. 

“That’s horrible,” Ezra cried. 

“It’s going to be hard adjusting to this,” Hera agreed, eyes flashing, “We gave him a datapad with a translator for him to use to talk until we find a better way for him to communicate but he’s not talking much.”

“In which sense,” Kanan asked with a smirk. 

“You know what I mean,” Hera sighed. “All he’d say is he didn’t know anything of use to us.” 

“Maybe I should try talking to him,” Zeb offered, “I’m sort of a friend so maybe he’ll open up to me?”

“I think we should give him a little space, he’ll talk when he’s ready.” Hera said. 

“I’m not so sure….” Zeb mumbled.

“He’s been through a lot, just give him some time,” Hera firmly said. “In the meantime we’ll hunt down the bastards that did this to him.”

“Alright…” Zeb reluctantly agreed, praying to Ashla Hera was right.

\-----

A week later, Kallus was released from the med bay and was given his own room on base. Though Commander Sato and others urged Kallus to share any information he had, Kallus remained silent. Despite his continued silence, Commander Sato found some useful information for Kallus to learn sign language so he could communicate more easily with everyone on base, but according to him, Kallus hadn’t touched anything given to him.

Enough was enough, something was wrong and Zeb was going to get to the bottom of it. Ignoring Hera’s plea’s to give him a little more time, Zeb made his way to Kallus’s room, knocking on the door before stepping inside. Kallus glanced up at Zeb, looking surprised for a moment before grabbing his datapad and typing out, a robotic voice speaking as he typed the words,

“Hello Zeb I am surprised to see you.” Sitting up from his position on the bed. 

“Sorry I didn’t come sooner,” Zeb said, walking over to the bed. “Can I join you?” Kallus eagerly nodded, scooting over to make room for him. “Thanks.” Zeb said, sitting down. 

“Don’t be sorry I know you’re busy,” Kallus quickly typed out. 

“Not really, Hera said I should give you some space but I heard you haven’t really been talking to anyone and….I wanted to make sure you where okay.” Zeb admitted, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. Kallus froze, his face falling. 

Kallus started to type something several times before quickly erasing it before the translator could start to translate it before eventually typing, “I know your friends don’t believe me but I swear I have no useful information. The only thing I know for sure is Imperial protocol but your friend Sabine already knows most if not all of that.”

“I believe you,” Zeb assured. “But I more meant just….talking or even practicing that sign language stuff.”

“Oh.” Kallus said, pausing to think of what to say before typing, “No one on this base knows it, so what’s the point of learning?”

“How do you know no one knows?” Zeb curiously asked. 

“It took a week for Sato to find what he did, don’t you think he would have just sent someone who knew it already if there was someone on base who could?” Kallus typed out, sighing heavily, rubbing his throat. 

“I…I honestly didn’t think about that….”

“I don’t think anyone did,” Kallus typed. 

“Well that’s not right,” Zeb said. 

“Hardly anything is.” Kallus typed. “Besides, no one here really wants to talk to me anyways.”

“I do,” Zeb firmly said. 

“You do?” Kallus typed, surprise etched across his features. 

“I do, we are friends right?” Zeb asked. 

“I yes I suppose so,” Kallus typed, a small smile on his face. 

“So I’ll learn with you,” Zeb said. “Might make it easier that way since we both can practice with each other.” Kallus beamed and Zeb and typed,

“Thank you Zeb.” Before pulling up one of the files Commander Sato sent him.


End file.
